By nature, construction activity is often noisy, dirty and generally incongruent with neighbourhood life. The impacts of development can be significant to adjacent businesses and residences over many months of construction activity. This can be amplified when there are simultaneous and serial construction projects going on in a particular area, such as downtown Victoria.
Nonetheless, residents accept construction as a legitimate and relatively short-term impact on quality of life. Despite widespread understanding and acceptance of this inconvenience, frustration can occur when there are unnecessary impacts that could be avoided or mitigated. Residents have reported several impacts from construction sites in the downtown where there has been an elevated level of building activity.